You may not have ever heard of Jim Valvano (aka Jimmy V), but you’ll know him soon.

Jimmy V was a college basketball coach, including stints at Bucknell, John Hopkins, Iona, and NC State. He was mostly known as a great coach who was tough but fair…the kind of coach a player would die to play for.

But in 1992, Valvano was diagnosed with lung cancer. His prognosis wasn’t good.

In 1993, at the ESPN ESPY Awards, Jim was awarded the Arthur Ashe Courage and Humanitarian Award. He approached the podium to thank the crowd, and ended up delivering one of the most inspirational speeches in history. He closed the speech with the following:

“Cancer can take away all of my physical abilities. It cannot touch my mind, it cannot touch my heart, and it cannot touch my soul. And those three things are going to carry on forever. I thank you and God bless you all.”

Watch the entire speech - it’s less than 10 minutes out of your day, but it will give you a brand new outlook on life. And whenever you’re feeling like things are hopeless, come back and watch it again. It’s that powerful.

It’s a sad thing to learn that Jim Valvano passed away just 2 months after this speech. If you’ve ever seen an example of “never giving up”, he’s it.